Ive been wondering the same thing. locking teams also makes diplomatic research useless. I wonder if locking teams will completely void all diplomatic research completely or if some will still have a purpose?

No it does not. Diplomacy is still relevant if teams are locked.

for the most part its probable, however a few things may be possible such as trading and cease fires. but i doubt anything major will still apply if teams are locked (which would be to keep players from teaming up through diplomacy)

Diplomacy cans till work even with locked teams. You will surely be unable to trade unlest you get teh trade research. By trade I mean tradeships to flyign to each other and feeding your allies with credits resorces.

Planet and ship vision could also be locked if not researched. So you wont know were you and your team is anymore. Theya re lost fo ways to make the research very relevant. They just need to amke ti so that teh diplomacy deals that give these advantages do not come into play until they are reasearched even thou the deals are already made and locked. Witht he acception for the allianve deal so you don't have people not reseachign alliance and shooting people who are supposed to be allies.

Darvin is spot on here.  Giving resources is now tied to a diplomacy tech. So is making a trade alliance as well as a slew of other things.  Suffice it to say, many features of Diplomacy are still applicable in locked games.

I sure that even if you have locked teams there is still a mech for dip

Thanks for clearing it up. I was afraid it would work the same as the misson research where it is still available but useless to spend resources on. Glad to know there is still some that is valid either way!